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Published: March 19th 2006
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A monitor lizard
It was just wandering along the side of the path munching on ants and that - quality! :o) Bus journey from KL was easy enough for a change, an iPod is most definitely THE bit of essential kit for trips like mine though I can tell you! I was told that accommodation at the ABC area (Air Batang), was the cheapest on the island so that's where I got the boat to drop us off and by 11am I was checked in at Johan's Resort for 20 ringgit a night and tucking into a bit of breakfast. After breakfast I went for a wander and found a good place for snorkeling off the beach so I hired some kit and jumped in. I saw 2 cuttlefish and a green turtle in the 40mins I was in so I was well chuffed, shame I couldn't take any pics though. That night I had BBQ blue marlin and it was fit as; I'd definitely recommend that to anyone i can tell ya! There's only two bars in ABC so I settled at the one by Nazri 2 to the north of the place and got stuck into the JD and coke with a Yorkshire bloke I met there called Anthony then was in bed for 12.
Next day I didn't get
Sunset on Tioman
The amount of sunset pics I've got so far on this trip is untrue but I hardly took any pics on Tioman so need to fill it up... up till 5pm coz I hadn't slept properly in over a week so I had a bit of catch-up to do there. Had a lazy day (or what was left of it), sitting reading my book, eating and drinking then headed down to Nazri 2 for more of the same. To be fair, Pulau Tioman jsut promotes laziness; everyone's chilled, no one hurries to do owt so it's a mint place to relax and it woulda been rude to not join in so what could I do?! lol.
I decided next day that it was time to get my PADI open water course sorted out so once I'd chosen a place to do it at (B&J Diving), I signed up and got it on the go. After watching 2 hours of DVD tutorials we did an enclosed dive in the pool to get used to the gear and stuff and no sooner had I started it was 6pm and we were packing up again! Had BBQ stingray for tea that night but it wasn't a patch on blue marlin even though it was really tasty.
Next day I finally got to dive in the sea so I was well happy, soon realised I had the buoyancy control of your average house brick but got through it all the same and saw loads of Nemo's so that was a bonus. Went for tea with Nina, my French diving instructor down at Lime Tree Cafe at the other end of ABC and met a few people there so was drinking till 2:30am that night; back to my old ways at long last, thank fuck for that!
Alarm didn't go off next day so was 30mins late to the boat for my final dives but no one was arsed. The two dives off the boat went by hassle free plus I saw 2 blue spotted stingrays when I was down there which was ace. When we got back to the dive centre i did my written exam and got 90% so I was now a fully qualified diver - mint! :o)
That night I met a couple at Nazri 2 bar who kept calling me Prince William but I guess that's a compliment so wasn't arsed. lol.
I'd signed up for 2 fun dives next day what with being qualified now so 9am next morning we were back on the boat again kitting up. The first dive was absolutely stunning and we saw a lionfish so that was the highlight of the first dive for me along with how stunning all the coral reefs were plus i got to my deepest depth to date but won't say how deep it was coz I'm only allowed to 18m with the PADI open water course and i might get Nina in trouble. lol. Did a bit of snorkeling when we surfaced and saw another cuttlefish then we were heading off to the 2nd dive site. this one wasn't as stunning visually as the 1st one but we saw a 1.5m long grouper fish down there (it was fucking HUGE!), and I was the only person on the boat to see a green turtle at around 10m down coz I went off on my own for a bit - quality! When I was getting back on the boat I smashed my knee into the stepladder then when I was getting off the baot I fell off the pier with my kit bag and split my finger and smashed my back in on the boat but apart from being a clumsy twat i had an ace day! Paid my bill with B&J when we got back (1130 ringgit - about 175 quid), then headed back to Nazri 2 bar for some more JD and Coke. The owner there let me bang my iPod on while I was there so that was alright plus he wracked us a few bongs up for good measure but I was absolutely TWATTED after only 3 so I had to get to bed prety sharpish after those.
Next day I paid my room bill up for 4 nights (all of 12 quid for my own bungalow right on the beach - cushtie!), then i got the speedboat oever to Mersing on the mainland at 9:30am - no worries! :o)
Sorry about the lack of pics in this blog by the way, I didn't often have me camera on us to be honest coz I was just wandering round in my board shorts and bare feet all the time and they've got no pockets in those shorts so I was stuck, sure I'll have plenty from Singapore though eh? Laters...
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Nik
non-member comment
Excellent
Very envious of you with all the diving, sounds absolutely cracking. Inspired me to go and have a go again!!!